Some interpretations of Islam are truly joyless and remind me of the guilt ridden Puritans, but even more so.

And is it only a matter of time before The Sphynx and The Pyramids and all the other Egyptian treasures go the same way as The Buddhas of Bamiyan and
countless other world treasures that have been destroyed in the name of religion?

I used to firmly believe that the vast majority of Ancient Egyptian artifacts should stay in Egypt and I had an intense dislike of Dr Hawass but I
sincerely hope he and the numerous dealers are making use of their significant number of contacts etc and are secretly making arrangements for the
removal of as many artifacts as possible.
I know that many would protest at such a policy but for the greater good I would much prefer these treasures existing in even a private collection
rather than being destroyed by these people.

I hope that you are wrong my friend, I really do. I love going to Egypt. My wife and I can spend hours wondering through the temples and cities. We
go there quite regularly just to take in the atmosphere.
It is a mystical land that has so man secrets yet to be rediscovered. It would be a crime against humanity to close down these temples and cities.

I was very close to being offered a job in Cairo last year then the recruitment agency was warned not to proceed with any roles in Egypt by The
Foreign Office.
This was a month or so prior to the uprising.

I would loved to have worked there and to experience at first hand the Egyptian culture and it has long been a land I have wished to visit.

It would have been an ideal opportunity for both personal and professional advancement.

Take the chance of a package cruise now, while you have the chance. The prices are low enough and IT IS well worth it. You can take a two week
holiday, but spend the extra to travel to Cairo too. It is an overnight train journey, but you will not regret it.

I think this particular article is very telling as to what Radical Islam is all about.

I am telling you folks, after 10+ years of fighting etc.... we still don't realize the real threat- IMO>

It shows the core of religions in general.

At present time you don’t see a lot of radical Christians, but I can assure you Christianity had its share of radical extremists too. Religion is
the single biggest killer of man in over a period of 2-3000 years probably further back too.
If you look at religions in general with logical assumptions, most "believers" is extremists because of their belief - that need further explanation.

I'll give an example that could happen here on ATS.
Try asking if God is a hoax as a header in a thread and see the response you get. You will probably see flaming and loads of quotes to "religious"
texts. These people KNOW the omnipotent God is real, but they never been able to bring any proff’s. It would be a lot more credible to me if
he materialized and stopped the Fukushima-catastophy with a single word. Or simply places the knowledge about him into our genome so we didn't have to
convince every generation about hes glory.

Now how is it they know this?

Most of these people just cling to religious ideas and stories told or recited by others without any kind of critical sense. Then for no logical
reason believe in what these often "far out" stories which is full of contradictions and interpretation.
Off cause there’s also the other group, who believe because in their mind they spoke with God or God spoke to them. I can’t deny such claims, but
if it wasn't put into a religious context, people would say you got a mental issues and needs help. If you believe just because you want to believe your an extremist in the eyes of many none-believer.

All this is fine with me, if you want to live a life full of illusions that’s your choice.
But what I don’t understand is that the same people who got no critical sense in religious issues can be perfectly sound and logical on all other
issues? Some of these people also make fantastic threads with in deepth analyze and debunking of actual "facts". Why can’t you do the same with your
religion? .

PS: George Bush often used "God" as a excuse for hes invasion wars, maybe i should also ask if the US currently is on a Christian crusade? (I do know
GB aint president any longer, but the wars are still a reality).

PPS: I agree that currently radical islamic extremists is on the move and growing in size and tha they pose a treat to free will. In countries where
leaders close down all borders, shut down information and force the people to some religious belief should be bombed with foreign satelite tv and
radio, instead of bullets and explosions.

While NATO, the USA and Britain chop up the Middle East after they have completed their "task" of sorts, an Arab Christian nation should be seriously
considered...preferably Upper Egypt or Lebanon!

Many Egyptian Coptic school girls, in the past year, have been kidnapped on their way to school and forced to convert to Islam....then they are
quickly forced in to Islamic marriages....or the kidnappers threaten they will murder their families.

I would love to go, that was one the many attractions of the job offer.

Unfortunately that offer is still on hold and my domestic situation has changed so I can not go anywhere for any length of time until early next year
at the soonest.

As always it is 'the man in the street' who suffers the most, unfortunately religious zealots and extremists and the vast majority of politicians
care very little, if anything, about them and see them as nothing but chattel and tools to be manipulated to achieve their own ends.

so, free and fair elections are to bring this faction manipulator into the future power structure?
all the millions of young people who wish for a better situation, are they going to vote for a
party that will deny them arts,music etc that they have enjoyed for decades?
i think the good people of egypt will wish for a strict mandate prior to any election process occuring in line
with the proposed constitutional decree prior to elections in november.
i have the feeling if this strictness is adopted throughout egypt, further bloodshed will occur.
i'm also wondering if external interests have assisted in drawing up the electoral boundaries
with essam sharaf. subject to the approval of the supreme council of the armed forces (ssaf) of
course.
is this a case of railroading the moderates within the brotherhood? english.ahram.org.eg...

unless the military council address and pardon the situation of maikal nabil sanad who is on hunger
strike, they will face problems from a powerful growing internet community. english.ahram.org.eg...

without the tourist revenue which helped in subsidising wheat imports, the whole area will
become seriously unstable.

but I do understand your point.. zealots seem to make it their lives work to mess up
the lives of the common folk... and in this instance I really hope they don't get a look in as I can imagine it will all kick off again if they do.

There are 10 + million Copts in Egypt. Thats more than enough to establish an autonomous region. Theyre particularly concentrated in central Egypt,
around the Nile.

And while were at it. The 30 + million Kurds living in Eastern Syria, Northern Iraq, Southern Turkey and Western Iran deserve a state; perhaps the one
the British promised yet failed to deliver??

But unfortunately, like the Jews, these groups take a back seat to pan arabism. Only Arabs/Muslims get to control lands historically regarded as
"Muslim"...

Western Liberals will never truly appreciate this bullying until its EUROPE that is being called Muslim land. The same way that "Andulasia" ie;
southern Spain, is still being regarded as Muslim land, and indeed, Muslim Brotherhood ideologues have said they want to reclaim it.

Originally posted by antar
And the weird part is that anyone who is not of their faith is their enemy.

Please stop posting this nonsense. At least offer a decent explanation for you to come to this conclusion, otherwise stop spreading such uninformed
vitriol.

Originally posted by antar
It would be impossible to have your life spared if you look white or non Islamic.

Your ignorance on this subject is astounding. Go to Bosnia or Albania, and you'll see plenty of white Muslims. In fact, many Muslims in Arabia and
Central Asia are also white, not to mention many white converts to the religion in Western Europe.

Originally posted by antar
To say Christian is just a blanket name to them.

''Them'', ''they'', ''their'' ? Suddenly a culturally diverse and far-flung population of 1.5 billion people all conform to some singular
group-think ?

Originally posted by antar
They want nothing less than total conversion or they will simply blow up the earth and let Allah sort out the infidels.

Yeah, because ''they'' ( all 1.5 billion of them ) are all blowing everyone up in unison.

There was me thinking that Muslims were just normal human beings who share all the normal hopes, fears and insecurities which everybody else on the
planet does.

When 63 of 130 listed terrorist organizations are Islamist, then something is clearly wrong.

Just because all Muslims arent politically active, doesnt mean if and when the time comes, they wouldnt be active.

Of course, this doesnt mean we should assume that every Muslim symapthizes with terrorism. Muslims are a enormous community. The "Umma" - the
collective Muslim body, is 1.5 billion people strong. But neverthless, simply studying the history of Islam and its spread by the sword should clarify
atleast some aspects of Islam which the western media insists we ought not pay attention to.

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